Hypnotherapy can benefit children more than adults!

You do not need to have your child hypnotized: if your child is suffering from an emotional or mental stress that is being expressed in several Physical symptoms, then your child is already in hypnosis.

Children are the best hypnotherapists in the world: think about how entranced you become when you watch your child acting a world war with his cars or how mesmerized you feel when she starts telling you about the magical world of her teddy bear or doll! Children can paint such vivid inner worlds and they can pull us into those with them very readily because at that stage of their lives they are not yet inhibited by the critical, logical, rational part of their brain yet. They have no doubt at all that what they are saying is true thereby their brain also never questions the reality of what they paint. Imagine how difficult you find it to pull them out of the world of imagination to do some homework!!

So long as they are painting constructive imagery, imagery of self-mastery where they are the Pilot of the aircraft or the Nurse, imagery of a world that is making them feel secure about their development, that is all very well. The problem occurs when children are undergoing some mental/emotional stress which gets expressed in different ways some of which are:

Bedwetting/enuresis

Nail biting

Stammering/stuttering

Nightmares

Insomnia

Screaming at shadows

Cannot be on own at all

Toilet problems

Prolonged constipation

Lack of focus/concentration

Phobias: animals, dark, heights, strangers.

Aggression/anger problems

Lack of confidence/shyness

Bullying/hitting othersThe list can be very long but the basis is often the same (please note that we can only say this after the child has been medically examined and no physical cause of the above behaviours has been found). Children often have difficulty expressiing emotions and fears in words, they prefer acting it out;

While they are undergoing these issues they are painting a very scary inner world of images of self-defeatism, weaknesses, failures, incompetence which makes the symptoms grow worse.

Hypnotherapy can help in these cases by helping the child to replace those defeating inner stories that they are constantly replaying (Remember that they are doing all of this on a very unconscious level with more constructive and long lasting beliefs in their own competence, abilities.) This especially occurs within six to ten years when children are under psychological and social pressures to prove that they are competent at something!

I have found it much easier to put children in trance with their little eyes wide open as that is the way they daydream anyway most of the day when they are playing. A child’s vivid imagination makes it easier to access their unconscious mind which is more repressed in adults. Children are more relaxed and receptive to their inner creative mind much more than adults.

A recent little client has stopped biting his nails (used to do this until blood came out) in just two sessions of hypnotherapy. His Mother said it was magic as he has been nail biting since two years old and he is now eight years. I knew it would be easier the moment I started asking him about his favourite pastimes. I was looking for how creative and imaginative he could be as these are skills needed to access the subconscious mind where the habit has settled down and from where it can be uprooted via use of his imagination.

Hypnotherapy makes use of the creative and limitless abilities of child’s mind. Unlike punishment or admonishment, it helps the childs esteem remain intact and can often lead to better self confidence.

Please Note:

All articles published here are the opinion of the named author and no responsibility is accepted by the owner of this website for them or their accuracy. If you have a medical condition you should seek the advice of your medical practitioner first.

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